Secret Mountain Fort Awesome

OK K.O.! Let’s Be Heroes Premieres Tonight On Cartoon Network USA

Tonight (01/08/2017) at 6.15pm ET/PT and immediately after the first episode of the Teen Titans Go!: The Night Begins To Shine miniseries, Cartoon Network USA (and also Cartoon Network Canada at 7.30pm ET/PT) will premiere their latest original animated show – OK K.O.! Let’s Be Heroes and a whole one hour block of new episodes will air tonight. The latest action-comedy cartoon from Cartoon Network Studios is about an optimistic kid named K.O. who dreams of becoming the world’s greatest hero in a video-game like world full of good guys and villains. The show is set in a retail park called Lakewood Plaza Turbo, where K.O. works at Gar’s Bodega, a store that specialises in hero supplies with his two friends Rad and Enid, all three work together to protect the plaza from robots and their most feared competitor – Lord Boxman and his Boxmore factory. K.O.’s mom – Carol is a martial arts expert and runs a dojo fitness centre at the plaza.

The show’s setting was inspired by Ian Jones-Quartey’s childhood home of Oakland Mills, Maryland, USA. As a kid, Ian used to practice drawing by pausing Looney Tunes videos and drawing each character, from a young age he shown an interested in animation. After graduating from High School, Ian studied at the School of Visual Arts in New York, where he met future Steven Universe show creator – Rebecca Sugar. Ian went on to work on Adult Swim’s The Venture Bros, Secret Mountain Fort Awesome at Cartoon Network Studios, Bravest Warriors at Frederator, Cartoon Network’s Adventure Time and his most senior role before working on OK K.O.! – supervising director and co-developer of Steven Universe. Cartoon Network’s chief creative officer – Rob Sorcher was impressed by Ian’s work and he was given a chance to create his animated pilot – Lakewood Plaza Turbo (released in 2013) which became the basis of what we now know as OK K.O.! Let’s Be Heroes today. Ian also voices Radicles (better known as his nickname – Rad) in the show.

Ian Jones-Quartey, the show’s creator summed up the show in his own words:

“I would describe it as, it’s about three best friends who work together, and they’re superheroes, and everybody on Earth is a superhero, and they fight robots, and they punch robots, and the robots explode. If any of that sounds good to you, then I think you’ll be down for the show.”

Cartoon Network USA Uncle Grandpa Finale Aired Friday 30th June

Note: This is my opinion, also suggestions and possibilities are not facts.

Yesterday (30/06/2017) at 4.30pm ET/PT, Cartoon Network USA aired the two final episodes of Uncle Grandpa – Exquisite Grandpa and Uncle Grandpa: The High School Years. The penultimate episode of Exquisite Grandpa is about Uncle Grandpa having night terrors and the episode – Uncle Grandpa: The High School Years is about Uncle Grandpa and his friends reminiscing their time at High School, which is a good way to end the show. The show is about a magical character called Uncle Grandpa, and as his name suggests, he’s everyone’s uncle and grandpa, he visits children all over the world to sort out the problems in their daily lives, he travels around the world in his RV with his friends Belly Bag (a talking magical bag Uncle Grandpa wears which stores everything he needs), Mr. Gus (a talking dinosaur) and Pizza Steve (a narcissistic talking slice of pizza).

Uncle Grandpa is known for its surreal humour, visual gags and puns, but it never reached the ratings compared to the likes of Adventure Time or The Amazing World of Gumball on Cartoon Network, some have argued that the humour doesn’t appeal to them. Personally, I’ve enjoyed the show, and just like Clarence, I felt that it was underrated and has been sidelined. Five seasons is a great run for an animated show and just like Clarence, the show had a cult following, personally I’m glad that Cartoon Network stayed committed to the series, even though it never had high ratings when compared to the most popular Cartoon Network shows in the United States.

Uncle Grandpa also had his own daily Breakfast Club programming block (as it was known in the UK and Africa) airing on Cartoon Network feeds across Europe (under various names such as El Club de la Tostada in Spain and Morgon Klubben in Scandinavia, Morgon Klubben has now been transformed into a retro 80’s themed block), which means it’s one of the few shows that has had a themed programming block.

I wish the best of luck to Peter Browngardt and his team on their future projects. Peter Browngardt has worked on Chowder, The Marvellous Misadventures of Flapjack and his other show – Secret Mountain Fort Awesome, he has a wealth of experience working in the animation industry. I’m interested to find out what he will be working on next.

Check out what’s coming in July on Cartoon Network USA on the Cartoon Network July 2017 Premiere thread on the ToonZone forums, Cartoon Network USA’s schedule regularly changes and it can be hard to keep up. It’s one of the best place to keep yourself updated about when episodes will premiere as the thread is constantly updated.

Cartoon Network USA 2017-2018 Upfront

Today (30/03/2017), Cartoon Network USA has unveiled their programming upfront for 2017 and 2018. Within the next 12 months or so, Cartoon Network will premiere five brand new and exciting animated shows – Apple and Onion, Craig of the Creek, Summer Camp Island, OK K.O.! Let’s Be Heroes and Ben 10. Cartoon Network USA is already airing a brand new show, Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs which is yet to premiere on international versions of Boomerang.

Cartoon Network USA will continue to premiere new episodes of their popular animated shows including: We Bare Bears, The Powerpuff Girls, Mighty Magiswords, Adventure Time, Teen Titans Go! and The Amazing World of Gumball. Also coming this year is another Adventure Time miniseries which explains what happened to the kingdoms of Ooo in Finn and Jake’s absence during the events of the Islands miniseries. According to the upfront, there will be another new The Amazing World of Gumball Halloween special as well as a live-action episode featuring puppets.

This year, there will also be special episodes of We Bare Bears with special guest appearances including comedian Ron Funches and voice actor John DiMaggio. For Steven Universe, there will be more adventurous story arcs and specials with more Gems, more Diamonds and more info about the Gem Homeworld. A Teen Titans Go! Easter special will also air, in the special, the Tooth Fairy attempts to take over the Easter Bunny’s role as mascot for the Easter holiday, as mentioned in the upfront, there will also be a 200th Teen Titans Go! episode special. To further Cartoon Network’s STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Mathematics) education initiative, there will also be an additional two STEAM themed episodes of The Powerpuff Girls.

One of the brand new shows, Apple and Onion is a friendship comedy about two friends named Apple and Onion who have recently moved to a city populated with anthropomorphic food, in the show, both friends adjust to city life and make new friends. Apple and Onion is created by George Gendi, known for his storyboard work in various episodes in the first season of The Amazing World of Gumball.

Craig of the Creek is another new show, the show follows Craig, the titular character and his two best friends who venture into a kid-only utopian society in the untamed wildness, at the creek, the rules of the outside world don’t apply. Craig of the Creek is created by Steven Universe show writers Matt Burnett and Ben Levin.

Summer Camp Island is another brand new show coming to Cartoon Network in 2018, created by British animation director Julia Pott, the show is about Oscar, a tapir and his friend Hedgehog during their time at a magical summer camp where anything is possible. The new show is based on the critically-acclaimed short of the same name and has been screened at different film festivals including Sundance and SXSW (South By Southwest).

OK K.O.! Let’s Be Heroes is a new show that is due to air on Cartoon Network from this summer. OK K.O.! Let’s Be Heroes is an animated show inspired by fighting-genre video games and draws inspiration from Ian Jones-Quartey’s childhood, the show’s creator. The brand new upcoming show from Cartoon Network Studios follows the heroic feats of K.O., an endlessly optimistic boy attempting to level up to be the best he can be in a dynamic universe of heroes, friends and challenging foes including his arch nemesis, Lord Boxman. A video game based on the new animated show is currently in development with game studio Capybara Games. OK K.O.! Let’s Be Heroes is based on a Cartoon Network Studios pilot – Lakewood Plaza Turbo, before becoming greenlit as a show in full-production, a series of OK K.O.! Let’s Be Heroes animated shorts were released online. Ian Jones-Quartey has worked on Adult Swim’s The Venture Bros and Cartoon Network’s Secret Mountain Fort Awesome and Adventure Time, but he’s mostly known for his work as supervising director on Steven Universe.

The next show that Cartoon Network USA will premiere will be the brand new Ben 10 series. The new series is a reboot of the internationally popular Ben 10 series, which originally premiered in 2005, the series is about a fun-loving 10-year-old named Ben Tennyson, his cousin Gwen, and Grandpa Max, as they travel around the country in a RV. Once Ben finds the Omnitrix, a mysterious watch that transforms him into 10 different heroic aliens, a world of extraterrestrial superpowers opens to him. Ben 10 is created by and executive produced by Man of Action Entertainment (Duncan Rouleau, Joe Casey, Joe Kelly and Steven T. Seagle). Ben 10 will premiere on Monday 10th April at 5pm ET/PT, the show has already premiered on international versions of Cartoon Network.

Cartoon Network is also continuing its expansion of its multimedia content, including a lineup of two new games heading to game consoles, Steven Universe: Save The Light (the sequel to the mobile game Steven Universe: Attack The Light) and the RPG/Fighting game hybrid – OK K.O.! Let’s Be Heroes, which is based on the new animated series of the same name. For Cartoon Network’s digitally originated animated show – Mighty Magiswords, a new RPG game called “Surely You Quest” will be released soon, in the game, players will be able to use the magiswords collected in the MagiMobile app.

Lego Dimensions, the LEGO toy and video game hybrid, is adding The Powerpuff Girls to the game with the introduction of a new Team Pack and Fun Pack. The Team Pack features Blossom and Bubbles minifigures, and the Fun Pack features Buttercup. Both packs give access to the Townsville Hub area where players can fly around Townsville and see the different locations in the show including Pokey Oaks elementary, City Hall, Rainbow Land, the Pickle Museum and the Powerpuff Girls’ home which also includes Professor Utonium’s laboratory.

Presently, Cartoon Network is the number one video on-demand service across all television in the United States, has five of the top ten currently most popular animated shows for children and has a digital portfolio of 44 mobile apps, with a combined total of 150 million downloads. Chromecast support for Cartoon Network’s Emmy-award winning streaming mobile app will be added later in the year.

From The Official Turner USA Press Release: Cartoon Network Gives Fans Something New Every Day, Everywhere

Cartoon Network, the global kids brand and leading choice for the mobile-first generation of plurals, announced a holistic slate of content for the 2017-18 upfront season that will provide something new to fans every day, across a wide spectrum of platforms.

As Turner’s youngest and one of the portfolio’s most immersive brands, Cartoon will deliver even greater content experiences that drive engagement across all screens and connects to the way their fans are consuming. Today, Cartoon announced a new slate of content including six new series and seven returning hits, as well as more than 20 original mobile and console games.

Long acknowledged for being in the forefront of bringing together premium content, fan experiences and technology, Cartoon’s success extends beyond television screens into the digital and mobile space with a growing and diverse multiplatform portfolio.

A roster of more than 400 free-to-play online games with the Game Creator franchise, generating more than 2 billion global game plays life to date.

Cartoon’s Emmy-winning flagship app will get an expansion to Chromecast later this year and at least nine more games being added to its slate, plus two integrated game consoles.

“As kids’ viewing habits have evolved, Cartoon Network has always been there with them,” said Christina Miller, President Cartoon Network-Adult Swim-Boomerang. “From their first experience with a Kids network website and video app; to their first series VR game; and most recently, their first app to use ACR, we are keeping our sole focus on them as they inspire us to reimagine television”

“Cartoon Network has cracked the code on how a leading media brand can engage with fans through true total consumption,” said Donna Speciale, President of Turner Ad Sales. “Whether it’s VOD or gaming, or everything in between, plurals are connecting with this brand globally in ways most media brands haven’t yet experienced. That presents an incredibly powerful opportunity for our advertising partners this Upfront.”

Following are details of Cartoon Network’s programming and mobile and gaming slate for the 2017-18 season:

NEW SERIES

• Apple & Onion – Being new and naïve to the ways of the “big city of sophisticated food” doesn’t stop the wide-eyed enthusiasm of the lovable buddies Apple and Onion who are destined to find their way and make lots of friends on their incredible adventure of life. The friendship comedy is created by George Gendi (The Amazing World of Gumball).

• Craig of the Creek – At the Creek, the rules of the outside world don’t apply in this kid utopia of untamed wilderness where Craig and his two best friends have ventured and tribes of children reign over tree forts and dirt bike ramps. The adventure series is created by Matt Burnett and Ben Levin, formerly from Steven Universe.

• Summer Camp Island – Having completed a momentous and critically acclaimed run at this year’s most notable festivals including the Sundance Film Festival and SXSW, this wildly imaginative animated series, based on the original Cartoon Network short, will continue unfolding the mysteries that Oscar and his best friend Hedgehog encounter at a magical summer camp. The series hails from creator Julia Pott (Adventure Time).

• OK K.O.! Let’s Be Heroes – Cartoon Network powers up a world of original heroes across the TV and gaming landscape together with the greenlight of this action-packed comedy followed by the console and PC game jointly developed with indie video game studio Capybara games. The knockout series is inspired by creator Ian Jones-Quartey’s childhood and follows the heroic feats of K.O., an endlessly optimistic boy attempting to level up to be the best he can be in a dynamic universe of heroes, friends and challenging foes. The series builds on OK K.O.! Lakewood Plaza Turbo, the network’s first original standalone mobile game and was developed from a pilot that was part of Cartoon Network’s Emmy Award-winning shorts program.

• Ben 10 – The newest show coming out of the highly successful franchise has launched multiple animated series, and numerous animated and live-action movies. Playmates Toys serves as the worldwide master toy partner for the new Ben 10 with a full line of toys based on the show that will include a range of figures, playsets, and role-play items set to launch at retail globally this fall. The wild adventures begin debuting Monday, April 10 and will introduce fun loving, 10-year-old, Ben Tennyson, his cousin Gwen, and Grandpa Max, as they traverse the country during summer vacation. Once Ben finds the Omnitrix, a mysterious watch that transforms him into 10 different heroic aliens, a world of extraterrestrial superpowers opens to him, which kids of all ages will admire. Ben 10 is created by and executive produced by Man of Action Entertainment.

• Cloudy with A Chance of Meatballs – The mouth-watering animated comedy series premiered earlier this month and is based on Sony Pictures Animation’s highly successful 2009 global feature Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs and subsequent, Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs 2. The TV series is produced in association with DHX Media, Sony Pictures Animation and Corus Entertainment.

RETURNING SERIES

• We Bare Bears – The BAFTA Award-winning series created by Daniel Chong stacks up a third and hilarious season. In the newest season, Grizzly (Eric Edelstein), Panda (Bobby Moynihan) and Ice Bear (Demetri Martin) meet up with favorite friends and frenemies voiced by Patton Oswalt, Charlyne Yi, Jason Lee, Ellie Kemper and Cameron Esposito. The adorable baby bears add more hijinks and commotion to the delight of fans. Festive holiday specials and new guest appearances by comedian Ron Funches and notable voice actor John DiMaggio round out the season as the Bears continue their comedic adventures around the Bay Area and beyond.

• The Powerpuff Girls – The Emmy nominated series is back and kicking off a second season featuring all-new characters and specials, plus action-packed battles between the superhero sisters and fan-favorite villains HIM and Mojo Jojo. The newly reimagined series is executive produced by Nick Jennings and co-executive produced by Bob Boyle, and will continue to further Cartoon Network’s commitment to STEAM education with two additional themed episodes this season. The wildly successful online Powerpuff Yourself avatar maker, which reached over 12 million fans at its launch, has now been updated so even more fans can see themselves as a real Townsville superhero. The original series was created by Craig McCracken.

• Mighty Magiswords – Recently picked up for a second season, Mighty Magiswords will expand on Prohyas and Vambre’s epic adventures as they embark on more hilarious quests in pursuit of the latest and greatest Magiswords to add to their coveted collections. Created by Kyle A. Carrozza, Mighty Magiswords is comprised of a rich hub of more than 500 pieces of original content including interactive shorts, narrative vlogs and a multitude of immersive digital games and apps.

• Adventure Time – The Emmy and Peabody Award-winning show is back with an eight-part miniseries of epic proportions later this year. Fans will be just as surprised as Finn to discover what happened to the kingdoms of Ooo while he was away at sea. This next miniseries comes fresh off the heels of Adventure Time: Islands, which reached almost four million people. The series is created by Pendleton Ward and executive produced by Adam Muto.

• Steven Universe – Friendships are tested as the saga continues in this Emmy-nominated series, created by Rebecca Sugar. The show returns with new adventurous story arcs and specials, in which fans will meet more Gems, spend time with the Diamonds and gain insight into the ever-mysterious Gem Homeworld while the series’ titular hero Steven Universe will grow as a leader. Steven Universe is lauded for having a voice of inclusion, and was recently nominated for its first GLAAD Media Award in the Outstanding Comedy Series category.

• Teen Titans Go! – Season four of the hit series continues and get ready for the show’s 200th episode as Robin, Starfire, Raven, Beast Boy and Cyborg prepare to save the world in a special, two-part episode. Audiences are also in for an egg-ceptional treat in a spring special featuring the mythical Tooth Fairy who tries to take over the holiday from the Easter Bunny. Series is produced by Warner Bros. Animation.

• The Amazing World of Gumball – This BAFTA and Emmy Award-winning series from Cartoon Network Studios EMEA conjures up a new Halloween special and continues warm-hearted adventures including an episode with live-action puppets with the energetic and fearless blue cat—Gumball—and his idiosyncratic family, the Wattersons.

MOBILE – CONSOLE GAMES – APPS

Some of the 2017 highlights include:

• The Powerpuff Girls LEGO DIMENSIONS – LEGO DIMENSIONS, the LEGO toy and videogame hybrid, is adding The Powerpuff Girls to its roster with a new Team Pack and Fun Pack. The Team Pack features Blossom and Bubbles minifigures, and the Fun Pack completes the team with Buttercup. Both packs give access to the Townsville Hub area where players can fly around Townsville and see sights like Pokey Oaks elementary, City Hall, Rainbow Land, the Pickle Museum and of course the girls’ home base complete with Professor Utonium’s lab.

• Steven Universe: Save The Light – Developed with renowned hit maker Grumpyface Studios, this is a new console game with an original story crafted by Steven Universe series creator Rebecca Sugar. The RPG console game is a sequel to the 2015 hit mobile title, Attack the Light and is expected to launch this summer.

• OK K.O.! Let’s Be Heroes – This action brawler console and PC game with RPG elements is set in the outrageous world of the upcoming animated series OK K.O.! Let’s Be Heroes created by Ian Jones-Quartey. It is developed by award-winning Capybara Games and arrives later this fall.

• Ben 10: Up to Speed – Ben 10: Up to Speed is a runner that follows Ben Tennyson as he goes on the best summer vacation ever with his Grandpa Max and cousin Gwen. He discovers an alien artifact called the Omnitrix that allows him to transform into powerful alien heroes. Playing as Ben and his various alien alter egos, gamers will save the world by stopping evildoers, from giant robots to menacing magic users.

• Glitch Fixers-The Powerpuff Girls – Bubbles, Blossom and Buttercup continue to save the day in the latest Cartoon Network mobile game, Glitch Fixers. Based on the popular episode “Viral Spiral,” Glitch Fixers is a turn-based puzzler that takes gamers on a wild digital ride. Using virtual command blocks, Bubbles is tasked with helping Blossom and Buttercup escape the internet and defeat the evil Amoeba Boys through the power of coding.

• Surely You Quest – As part of a connected hub that includes the linear series Mighty Magsiwords, the newest mobile game links to another integrated app MagiMobile, to give fans access to their Magiswords and allow them to expand their collections. Gamers can use the swords they previously earned in MagiMobile for gameplay in Surely You Quest, and the more fans watch and engage with MagiMobile, the more options they will have for battles in the game.